The list of presidential candidates published by the Provisional Electoral Council (CEP) the body responsible for the organisation of elections in Haiti; shows the name of former Prime Minister Laurent Salvador Lamothe as a candidate under the banner of the Peasant Platform (Platfòm Peyizan) ending months of speculations regarding his ambitions to the highest office of Haiti.

Laurent Lamothe, before getting into Haitian politics, was a well known successful businessman; the co-founder and CEO of Global Voice Group, a telecommunications company providing technological solutions to regulators in numerous countries in Africa.

In October 2011, Laurent Lamothe was confirmed as Haiti's Minister of Foreign Affairs, he served in that role until he was appointed as Haiti's Prime Minister by President Michel Martelly on May 4th 2012, following the resignation of Prime Minister Gary Conille.

Laurent Lamothe as Prime Minister of Haiti bought to the administration of Martelly, what many said was a breath of fresh air. The young and talented Prime Minister described as a "talented entrepreneur with the vision to move Haiti forward" was admired by many in Haiti and largely in the diaspora.

But two years into his premiership, supports for the Prime Minister and his president in Haiti, started to plummet over their government's inability or unwillingness according to the opposition, to find an agreement with parliament to organize elections three years overdue. For 2/3 of the senate, the entire lower house of 199 deputies and mayors for all the 240 municipal offices throughout the country.

Thousands of protesters took the streets of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince and other cities in Haiti, demanding his resignation as well as that of President Martelly.

After months of failed agreements with the opposition in parliament and under pressure from protesters, who have been in the streets for months now, and were starting to use violence to justify their cause, President Michel Martelly put en place a commission to help him find a solution to the degenerating political climate of the country, after a week the commission came out with the shocking call for Laurent Lamothe to resign.